Do you ever have an idea for a scene, or story, and throw it around in your head for a while, and then decide that the technical difficulties of realising that sequence would be too much hassle for the payoff?
I've caught myself doing this, twice, and now I'm unimpressed with myself on that score. I have ditched two ideas because I didn't fancy the technical challenges. One of them was about a three-party conflict with an invisible person (who wasn't the MC) in the scene. Another was a strange effect I was trying for, having the narrator explain something, but then having the MC respond to the narrator's reflections, not directly, but as if influenced by them and/or vice versa. I know that sounds pretty normal, but this is it really, there's something difficult that I wanted to do, but just tossed it aside. I find it difficult even trying to explain what I wanted to do, let alone actually carry it off.
I think I'm going to change this, and be a bit braver about tricky ideas.
But I wondered if other people ever get this. You ever back off from an idea like that?
6 comments:
I think I usually look for those challenges, actually. It may not work... but I like the gauntlet in the face. I like the challenge of trying to make something work. I have certain stories I've written solely for that reason: a technical challenge. My one from the point of view of a television set was like that.
But... I do have one novel idea that I'm not sure I'm ready for... or at least not certain how I want to tackle it. I'm thinking it will be a very challenging story to write... something very difficult to carry the reader through. But I definitely want to write it, intimidation or not. When...? That's another question entirely.
Don't skip out on those. You need to push thru it. If you think it's complicated...then that means the reader will probably devour it!
Do it.
Do it!
Do it.
I know how that feels, think of the scene, then stop with fingers over the keyboard.
Some times I'll open up a different document for a place to experiment.
Sometimes I chicken out.
The more time I put into writing, the less often I chicken out. I may work it out in a different file, so I'm not "committed" to putting that scene in my story.
I have a lot of story fragments hanging around my hard drive.
I think everyone probably faces giants of this kind at some point, if not every time they write. Personally, I rather enjoy challenging and unorthodox action sequences. Doesn't mean I get em right, but I do love trying. I was afraid of trying first person POV for a while, but I finally took that leap and enjoyed it. I've kind of been wanting to try something experimental and that's a bit intimidating.
I tink one of the areas where I have these kind of experiences is in trying to pull off description in sci-fi. I love rich, vibrant description, but sometimes it gets challenging when everything from the background to the MC is...otherworldly. We take it for granted that if we say 'he drove a blue, four-door sedan' that most everyone can picture that. However, when we get into things that are completely outside of common experience, it gets tough. And yes, it's tempting to forego the really complex stuff in favor of something easier. But, like PC says, you just gotta do it.
I don't get intimidated until I am in the midst of the scene and its not looking like it should.
A lot of times I will look at a book that has a similar scene or google some key words to get an idea of how I want to write it out. It is amazing how much help is available on the internet.
Sometimes though, the technical issues with things will prevent the main idea working properly. If there's some huge technical flaw inherent in an idea that means it can never work well, that's probably a good time to run away.
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